KOLKATA:
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) patriarch Jyoti Basu on Tuesday said
controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen was welcome back if the union
government provided adequate security to
her.
Nasreen was forced to
leave Kolkata after street riots last month over her alleged anti-Islam
writings.
"She is welcome back
in Kolkata, but the security has to be provided by the centre. I appreciate the
stand taken by the external affairs minister (Pranab Mukherjee) regarding this,"
said Basu, even as his party beat about the bush on the issue for fear of losing
minority votes.
After
unprecedented violence in Kolkata by a section of the city's Muslim community,
who were demanding her ouster from India, the 45-year-old writer was shifted to
Jaipur November 22 and then to New Delhi in secrecy and under heavy
security.
The Intelligence
Bureau is keeping Nasreen in a "safe house" within a National Security Guards
complex in New Delhi.
"She
loves Kolkata. She wants to stay here. She had even presented me her book
'Dwikhandita'. But we had to ban her book in Bengal because it hurts Muslim
sentiments," Basu said.
While
he made his stand clear on Nasreen's return - though not without sending the
ball to the centre's court - the CPI-M is yet to come out with a clear statement
on her.
Nasreen had earlier
told IANS that the Indian government had virtually asked her to remain in Delhi
or leave the country.
"I don't
want to live in India if I am not allowed to return to Kolkata," she
said.